I'm Too Sexy For My Shorts

(Computer problems delayed this)

After Saturday's ride, I decided to bite the bullet: I needed bike shorts.

I headed over to Bicycle John's and started shopping. One of the guys there gave me a few pointers and then left me to do some trying on. The Pearl Izumi pair that I tried on first ended up being the ones I went with. As for the others, I guess it's a bad sign when the XL pair won't even go past my thighs. In any event, I found my comfy pair and took them out on Sunday morning's ride. What a difference! For the ignorant out there (like I was until a few months ago), cycling shorts aren't just tight, they have padding for sitting on the saddle. While it wasn't like sitting on a couch, the new shorts definitely made the ride more comfy, and I needed it.

Sunday was the start of what they called the Marek Fire and 8 miles into what was to be my first 12 mile ride I encountered a police roadblock. The fire command post and staging area was down the road and they didn't need cars mingling with all the fire equipment. I asked one of the officers if bikes were okay and he basically said give it a try but come back if they send me back. I went a little ways down the road but it soon became obvious that there was a lot of equpment there and they didn't need me in the middle of it so I turned around and my 12 mile ride turned into an almost 16 mile ride. I am happy to report that all went well. Maybe I'll try a 20 mile ride this weekend.

I haven't been able to ride too many weeends on both days yet but it seems to me that the Sunday ride is easier than the Saturday ride. Maybe I'm imagining things but that's the impression I have. Weird, eh? I will be paying close attention to this.

In Tuesday's swim workout I did my first 200. Still struggling with a warm pool but at least I did it. Did some 50s on the 1:45 instead of the 2:00, too. My triceps felt really tired during the workout. I remember my high school swim coach having us emphasize triceps in our weight workouts but I haven't really thought about why. They're use in extending the arms, which means on the reach forward as well as pushing the water down. I guess I never thought that was much work. Looks like I was wrong.